Córdoba Province, Argentina
Córdoba is a province of Argentina, located in the center of the country. Neighboring provinces are: Santiago del Estero, Santa Fe, Buenos Aires, La Pampa, San Luis, La Rioja and Catamarca. Together with Santa Fe and Entre Ríos, the province is part of the economic and political association known as the Center Region. Córdoba is the second most populous Argentine province, with 3,308,876 inhabitants, the fifth by size, at about 165,321 km2. 41% of its inhabitants reside in the capital city, Córdoba, its surroundings, making it the second most populous metro area in Argentina. Before the Spanish conquista the region now called Córdoba Province was inhabited by indigenous groups, most notably the Comechingones and Sanavirones. Once settled in Alto Perú, the Spaniards searched for a route to the Río de la Plata port in the Atlantic Ocean to transport the Peruvian gold and silver to Europe. Córdoba de la Nueva Andalucía was founded as a middle point on that route on July 6, 1573 by Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera.
The Colegio Convictorio de Nuestra Señora de Monserrat was founded by the Jesuits in 1599, followed by the National University of Córdoba, Argentina's first university, in 1613. The city continued to grow as an important cultural center, supported by the trade of precious metals from Peru. In 1761 a printing press was installed in the University. In 1783, seven years after the consolidation of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, the Intendency of Córdoba became the capital of what now includes the La Rioja, San Juan and San Luis Province, dividing the former Tucumán Intendency in two. Rafael de Sobremonte was its first governor. After the May Revolution in 1810, Governor Juan Gutiérrez de la Concha joined a meeting that decided to ignore the authority of the Buenos Aires Junta. Francisco Ortiz de Ocampo attacked the city and executed the leaders of the opposition, among whom was Santiago de Liniers, leader of the resistance during the British invasions of the Río de la Plata. Led by Juan Bautista Bustos after 1820, Córdoba struggled for control of the Nation with Buenos Aires.
Córdoba sought a federal organization of the provinces while Rivadavia pushed for a centralised government in Buenos Aires. For 15 years the province was submerged in internal revolts that started to stabilize in 1868 under the provisional government of Félix de la Peña. During the presidency of Sarmiento an astronomic observatory and the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Mathematics were inaugurated; the creation of the railways and the consequent immigration brought a second wave of population growth to Córdoba. From 1887 on, several agricultural colonies emerged, while former rest-point Fraile Muerto and Los Luceros, on the route to Buenos Aires, became agricultural and industrial centers, respectively; the University Reform movement, which originated in Córdoba in 1918, was influential not only in Argentina but throughout South America. Modernization of the curricular contents and the improvement of the students' rights were the main achievements of the movement and in Córdoba, were enacted by Governor Amadeo Sabattini, who became Argentina's most progressive governor at the time and enacted civil and land reforms that would set the national standard.
After World War II, many foreign workers and workers from other provinces in Argentina were seduced by Córdoba's industrial development, led by the expansion of the car industry. It was during Arturo Frondizi's presidency that most new auto industries settled in the city of Córdoba and its surroundings; as in the rest of the country, Peronist groups emerged in 1955 following the coup that removed Juan Perón from office. These Peronist groups, together with other socialist and anarchist groups, began opposing Argentina's third military dictatorship that began in 1966. Worker and student participation in politics grew due to the widespread discontent with the appointed governor's hard-line stance, culminating in the violent May, 1969, popular revolt known as the Cordobazo; this revolt, mirrored by the Rosariazo and others in several parts of the country, undermined the power of dictator Juan Carlos Onganía and led to his ouster by more moderate military factions. Córdoba has continued to prosper, despite left-wing violence in 1973, right-wing political interference in 1974, government atrocities in 1976–77, 1978–81 free trade policies that battered Córdoba's sizable industrial sector, the 1980s debt crisis and, the recent acute financial crisis that ended in 2002.
Córdoba, located just north of the geographical center of the nation, is Argentina's fifth largest province. The main feature of the province is the presence of an extensive plain covering the eastern two thirds of the province, the existence of three major mountain ranges which, are known as Sierras de Córdoba: the easternmost range starts just west of the city of Córdoba and reaches altitudes of around 1,000 meters in the southern portion, over 1,500 meters further north, with a maximum altitude of 1,950 meters at Cerro Uritorco. West of this chain, two valleys contain most of the tourist spots in the province: the Calamuchita valley in the south, the Punilla Valley in the north, home of scenic towns such as Villa Carlos Paz, Cosquín, La Cumbre and La Falda. West of these valleys, the Sierras Grandes form the highest chain in the province: their altitude increases to form a plateau of 2,000 to 2,300 meters
Buenos Aires Province
Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous Argentinian province. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be part of the province and the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880. Since in spite of bearing the same name, the province does not include the national capital city proper, though it does include all other localities of the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area surrounding it; the current capital of the province is the city of La Plata, founded in 1882. The province is the only within the whole Argentina to be divided into partidos and furtherly into localidades, borders the provinces of Entre Ríos to the northeast. Uruguay is just near the Atlantic Ocean to the east; the entire province is part of the Pampas geographical region. The province has a population of 39 % of Argentina's total population. Nearly 10 million people live in Greater Buenos Aires; the area of the province, 307,571 km2, makes it the largest in Argentina with around 11% of the country's total area.
The inhabitants of the province before the 16th century advent of Spanish colonisation were aboriginal peoples such as the Charrúas and the Querandíes. Their culture was lost over the next 350 years, they were subjected to Eurasian plagues from. The survivors joined other tribes or have been absorbed by Argentina's European ethnic majority. Pedro de Mendoza founded Santa María del Buen Ayre in 1536. Though the first contact with the aboriginals was peaceful, it soon became hostile; the city was evacuated in 1541. Juan de Garay re-founded the settlement in 1580 as Santísima Trinidad y Puerto Santa María de los Buenos Aires. Amidst ongoing conflict with the aboriginals, the cattle farms extended from Buenos Aires, whose port was always the centre of the economy of the territory. Following the creation of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata at the end of the 18th century, the export of meat and their derivatives through the port of Buenos Aires was the basis of the economic development of the region.
Jesuits unsuccessfully tried to peacefully assimilate the aboriginals into the European culture brought by the Spanish conquistadores. A certain balance was found at the end of the 18th century, when the Salado River became the limit between both civilizations, despite frequent malones; the end to this situation came in 1879 with the Conquest of the Desert in which the aboriginals were completely exterminated. After the independence from Spain in 1816, the city and province of Buenos Aires became the focus of an intermittent Argentine Civil War with other provinces. A Federal Pact secured by Governor Juan Manuel de Rosas in 1831 led to the establishment of the Argentine Confederation and to his gaining the sum of public power, which provided a tenuous unity. Ongoing disputes regarding the influence of Buenos Aires, between Federalists and Unitarians, over the Port of Buenos Aires fueled periodic hostilities; the province was declared independent on September 1852, as the State of Buenos Aires.
Concessions gained in the 1859 Pact of San José de Flores and a victory at the Battle of Pavón led to its reincorporation into the Argentine Republic on December 17, 1861. Intermittent conflicts with the nation did not cease until 1880, when the city of Buenos Aires was formally federalized and, administratively separated from the province. La Plata was founded in 1882 by Governor Dardo Rocha for the purpose of becoming the provincial capital; the equivalent of a billion dollars of British investment and pro-development and immigration policies pursued at the national level subsequently spurred dramatic economic growth. Driven by European immigration and improved health, the province's population, like Argentina's, nearly doubled to one million by 1895 and doubled again by 1914. Rail lines connected nearly every town and hamlet in the province by 1914; this era of accelerated development was cut short by the Wall Street Crash of 1929, which caused a sharp drop in commodity prices and led to a halt in the flow of investment funds between nations.
The new Concordance and Perón governments funded ambitious lending and public works programs, visible in Buenos Aires Province through the panoply of levees, power plants, water works, paved roads, municipal buildings, schools and massive regional hospitals. The province's population, after 1930, began to grow disproportionately in the suburban areas of Buenos Aires; these suburbs had grown to include 4 million out of the province's total 7 million people in 1960. Much of the area these new suburbs were developed on consisted of wetlands and were prone to flooding. To address this, Governor Oscar Alende initiated the province's most important flood-control project to date, the Roggero Reservoir. Completed a decade in 1971, the reservoir and associated electric and water-treatment facilities encouraged still more, more orderly, development of the Greater Buenos Aires region, which today includes around 10 million people, it did not address worsening pollution resulting from the area's industrial growth, which had made itself evident since aroun
San Juan Province, Argentina
San Juan is a province of Argentina, located in the western part of the country. Neighbouring provinces are, moving clockwise from La Rioja, San Luis and Mendoza, it borders with Chile at the west. The province has an area of 89,651 km2, covering a mountainous region with scarce vegetation, fertile oases and turbulent rivers. Throughout the entire province there are an important number of paleontological sites. Similar to other regions in Argentina, agriculture is one of the most important economic activities, highlighting wine production and olive oil. Additionally, a variety of fruits and vegetables are produced in the fertile valleys irrigated by artificial channels in the western part, close to the Andes mountain range; this is the second province in volume of wine production at the national level and in South America, possesses outstanding varietal wines. It is an important center of mining and oil production. Before the arrival of Spanish conquistadores, different tribes like Huarpes, Capazanes and Yacampis influenced by the Inca empire, inhabited the area.
The city of San Juan de la Frontera was founded by Juan Jufré y Montesa in 1562 and relocated 2 kilometres south in 1593 due to the frequent flooding of the San Juan River. In 1776, San Juan was annexed to the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, becoming one of the cities of the Province of Cuyo. In the same year, the first recorded earthquake caused massive damage to the city; the father of Argentine independence, Gen. Jose de San Martin, was appointed Governor of the Province of Cuyo in 1814. From there, San Martin began his legendary crossing of the Andes, one of military history's great tactical decisions. San Juan a small town, was a great supporter of the expedition supplying gold and mules. In 1820, San Juan was granted autonomy from the Province of Cuyo, thereby becoming an autonomous province; the remainder of Cuyo region became Mendoza Province. Following an era of international isolation for Argentina, the advent of new, more liberal government in 1853 attracted a number of exiled intellectuals back into San Juan.
Among these, was a San Juan military officer and novelist named Domingo Sarmiento. Sarmiento was elected governor in 1862, pursuing sorely needed public investments and enacting Argentina's first law mandating compulsory education. Once elected President of Argentina in 1868, those policies became national law. In 1944 a moderate, yet destructive earthquake near the capital destroyed most of the city and killed 10,000 people. A fundraiser was organized to raise money for the victims of the quake where Colonel Juan Perón met his eventual wife and political companion Eva Duarte. A more powerful earthquake stuck the same city in 1977; the most noteworthy loss following this event was the destruction of the Cathedral of San Juan. A new, modernist house of worship was put up in its place and inaugurated in 1979. Among the most growing provinces in Argentina after 1945, the national government began the construction of the National University of San Juan, which opened its doors in 1973. Congress further responded to the needs of San Juan's growing agricultural sector by breaking ground in the mid'70s for the largest hydrostructural project in the province up to that point, the Ullum Dam and Reservoir.
Inaugurated in 1980, it has contributed to the province's production of irrigated desert crops, like olives, figs and, most wine grapes. In 2005, Barrick Gold Corporation, one of the world's largest gold-mining conglomerates, announced the purchase of large tracts in the San Juan Andes where a gold mine was started; these have, so far, been yielding over 11,000 ounces of gold yearly, though evidence suggests these activities may be having an adverse impact on San Juan's glaciers. In 2007, the same company installed the world's highest-situated wind turbine at the Veladero mine in San Juan Province at nearly 4,200m elevation; the province is part of the continental semi-desert Cuyo region. The arid plains start on the east, with a few low hills in the middle and swiftly turn into 6,000-meter-high mountain peaks towards the west. Both areas are subject to the dry hot Zonda. Most of the precipitations take place during the summer as electrical storms; the hot wind has modeled the clay-rich red soil into Pampa del Leoncito and Valle de la Luna 200-million-year-old geological formations.
The Jáchal and San Juan rivers, both part of Desaguadero River system, are the source of fertile valleys and centre of the province's economy. The San Juan River finishes on the southeast. San Juan concentrates most of its population in the oases or central valleys, Tulum Valley, Ullum and Jáchal, containing nearly 80% of this population; the remaining is located in the oasis located at the foot of the Andes in Calingasta. Another population concentration is in Fertile Valley. San Juan focuses its economy in agriculture, specially wine production. Additionally, preserved foods production is developed. Mining is a growing activity, with the extraction of various minerals financed by multinational companies. Tourism is a new and flourishing activity and it is becoming an important source of revenue for the province. San Juan's is a diversified, economy, its output was estimated in 2006 at US$3.613 billion, or US$5,827 per capita (a third less than the national averag
Corrientes Province
Corrientes is a province in northeast Argentina, in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by: Paraguay, the province of Misiones, Brazil and the provinces of Entre Rios, Santa Fe and Chaco. Before the arrival of the Spanish conquest, the Kaingang and Guaraní lived in a big area that covered most of the current province of Corrientes; the city of Corrientes was founded on April 3, 1588 by Juan Torres de Vera y Aragón as a mid-stop between Asunción and Buenos Aires. Jesuits erected missions in the north of the province, where they dedicated themselves to the expansion of the faith. In the wars of independence from Spain, Corrientes joined Artigas' Liga de los Pueblos Libres; the attack of Paraguayan forces on the province in 1865 marked the start of the War of the Triple Alliance. In 1919 the National University of the Littoral was founded, which in 1956 became the National University of the Northeast. Corrientes is legendary in the world of philately for the postage stamps it issued from 1856 to 1880.
These are among the early or "classic" postage stamps of the world. The Corrientes stamps were close copies of the first issue of stamps from France, which depicted the profile head of Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, were individually crudely engraved by hand, so that each die is noticeably different, were printed in small sheets; the first issues, from 1856 to 1860, bore the denomination in the lower panel. As locally produced "primitives", the early Corrientes stamps have long been prized by collectors. After 1880, stamps of Argentina were used. For much of the 19th and 20th centuries, politics in Corrientes were dominated by the Romero Feris family, prominent local landowners who still control most of the province's tobacco output. During most of this time, the Romero Ferises created one of Argentina's most bloated government payrolls and suppressed dissent and efforts at modest land reform. Following contentious election results in 1991, public protest forced President Carlos Menem to remove Governor Raúl "Tato" Romero Feris from office and, though he was elected mayor of the province's capital in 1997, Romero Feris was indicted for embezzlement of public funds in 1999.
He was sentenced to seven years in prison in May, 2002. Corrientes had a significant impact in national politics in subsequent years. A UCR-led alliance defeated the Romero Feris machine in the 2001 governor's race, but the Corrientes UCR's continued support for President Néstor Kirchner led to a rebuke from the national committee of the UCR itself, this triggered a revolt from the Corrientes chapter of the party, as well as a number of others'; these differences led to the appearance that year of "K" Radicals – UCR governors and other lawmakers allied to President Kirchner. The northeastern tip of Corrientes Province was chosen as the site for Yacyretá Dam following an agreement between President Juan Perón and Paraguayan President Alfredo Stroessner in 1974. Yacyretá, whose 20-year-long construction and US$11 billion cost far exceeded initial estimates, is one of the largest hydroelectric dams in the world. An agreement is being pursued with Paraguay which would allow reservoir expansion works that could double the facility's current installed electric capacity of 4,050 MW.
Culture in Corrientes has been informed and influenced by its European and Guarani roots. Famous correntinos were independence hero General Don José de San Martín and Juan Bautista Cabral, who gave his life for the general in the Battle of San Lorenzo. Tourist destinations in the Corrientes Province include the Iberá Wetlands and the Mburucuyá National Park. On 22 October 2004, Provincial Law No. 5598 declared Guaraní to be an official language of Corrientes, alongside Spanish. It was the first Argentine province to officialize a language other than Spanish, followed in 2010 by Chaco. Corrientes is surrounded by two rivers – the Uruguay River to the east, the Paraná River to the northwest – that contour the shape of the province; the low shore of the Paraná produces frequent floodings. After a specially destructive one in 1982, a protective system has been started with the construction of barriers; the province is for the most part a plain, with the highest points in the east. To the west, a series of descending platforms go down to the Paraná River.
The Iberá Wetlands, an area of lagoons and swamps, is a vast depression from volcanic flow, covered with fluvial and eolic sediments. The climate is predominantly subtropical with no dry season. Temperatures are hot for most of the year while precipitation is abundant and evenly distributed throughout the year. There are four seasons: winter, spring and autumn. Winters are short although occasional incursions of cold, polar air from the south can produce frosts. In contrast, temperatures during summer can reach to 35 to 40 °C. Mean annual precipitation ranges from 1,100 to 1,900 millimetres which decreases from northeast to southwest. Corrientes, like much of the Argentine north, has long had a underdeveloped economy, its 2006 output was estimated at US$4.2 billion (which shall be around US$6.7 billion in 2011, according to Argentina's economic growth
Catamarca Province
Catamarca is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. The province had a population of 334,568 as per the 2001 census, covers an area of 102,602 km2, its literacy rate is 95.5%. Neighbouring provinces are: Salta, Tucumán, Santiago del Estero, Córdoba, La Rioja. To the west it borders the country of Chile; the capital is San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca shortened to Catamarca. Other important cities include Andalgalá, Belén. Most of Catamarca’s territory of 102,602 square kilometers, is covered by mountains, which can be grouped into four differentiated systems: the Pampean sierras, in the east and center. Located in an arid and semi-arid climate zone, the scarce water resources determine the human settlement pattern. Agricultural activities are concentrated in the valleys between the mountains. In the east the population is concentrated around a number of water courses, water being distributed by canals and irrigation ditches; the province is located with the semi–arid region of Argentina.
Mean annual precipitation of the province is around 400 to 500 millimetres which decreases to the west. The province is characterized by the presence of different microclimates based on variations in altitude. In general, there are three different climatic zones found within the province; the northeastern parts of the province has a subtropical highland climate, characterized by abundant rainfall and high temperatures. Summers are hot. At the highest peaks of Sierra del Aconquija, snow cover is permanent. Most of the province and its intermontane valleys have an arid climate. Within these valleys which includes the provincial capital, the climate is characterized by its extreme aridity, large thermal amplitudes and strong northeastern winds; the region is characterized by abundant sunshine with winds predominantly coming from the northeast and southeast. Nonetheless, there is large variation between different locations owing to differences in altitude and differences in the relief and altitudes of the surrounding mountains that enclose the valleys.
Mean annual precipitation ranges from 500 to 700 millimetres in the eastern parts of the region to less than 150 millimetres in the west. In the arid valleys, mean annual precipitation is around 160 millimetres. Most of the precipitation occurs during summer, falling as short but heavy bursts with the rest of the year being dry. Mean annual temperatures range between 16 to 18 °C with eastern and central parts having mean annual temperatures of 20 °C. In summer, the mean temperature is 25 °C although they can reach up to 45 °C. Winters, with a mean temperature of 10 °C are characterized by frequent frosts. Locations in the west experience colder winters due to their higher altitudes with temperatures that can decrease to −30 °C. During winter, the Zonda wind occurs, leading to dry conditions that can lead to dust storms. In the extreme west of the province is the Puna region located in the Antofagasta de la Sierra Department; the region has a desert climate with low precipitation. This is due to the mountains.
Mean annual precipitation decreases from north to south and from east to west. Owing to its high altitude, the climate is characterized by low temperatures; the thermal amplitude is large, reaching up to 40 °C due to the combination of low humidity and high solar radiation. Before the arrival of the Spanish conquest, most of today's Catamarca was inhabited by the Diaguitas indigenous people, including the fierce Calchaquí tribe. In 1558 Juan Pérez de Zurita founded San Juan de la Ribera de Londres, but since it was under attack by indigenous people its population remained small; the sixth foundation was by Fernando de Mendoza Mate de Luna on July 5, 1683, with the name San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca. When the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata was created in 1776, Catamarca obtained the title of Subintendencia under the Salta intendency. In 1821, the province claimed its autonomy, Nicolás Avellaneda y Tula was elected as the first governor of the province; the name is believed to come either from Quechua cata'slope' and marca'fortress', or from Aymara catán'small' and marca'town'.
Catamarca remained isolated from the rest of Argentina by its mountains until 1888, when the expanding railways first appeared in the province. Attracting immigrants with its spacious, fertile valleys and dry, agreeable weather, Catamarca was soon favored by immigrants from Lebanon and Iran, who found Catamarca reminiscent of the fertile, orchard-lined mountain valleys of the homes they left behind. One such family, the Saadis, became prominent in local commerce and politics. In 1949, the newly designated province elected Vicente Saadi as governor. Saadi, a Peronist, would become indispensable to local politics, exerting influence by proxy. Passing away in 1988, he was succeeded by his son Ramon. In 1990, close friends of the Saadis were involved in the
Misiones Province
Misiones is one of the 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by Paraguay to the northwest, Brazil to the north and south, Corrientes Province of Argentina to the southwest; this was an early area of Roman Catholic missionary activity by the Society of Jesus in what was called the Province of Paraguay, beginning in the early 17th century. In 1984 the ruins of four mission sites in Argentina were designated World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. Indigenous peoples of various cultures lived in the area of the future province for thousands of years. At the time of European encounter, it was occupied by the Kaingang and Xokleng followed by the Guarani; the first European to visit the region, Sebastian Cabot, discovered Apipé Falls while navigating the Paraná River in December 1527. In 1541 Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca reached the Iguazú Falls. In the 17th century, members of the Society of Jesus came to the region as missionaries.
They began to establish a string of Jesuit Reductions, most notably that of San Ignacio. In a few years they set up 30 mission villages, they crafts. Their crafts were sold and traded along the river and they shared in the Reductions' prosperity. In 1759 the Portuguese government, at the insistence of its anti-Jesuit Secretary of State, the Marquis de Pombal, ordered all Reductions closed in its territory; the Marquis prevailed in 1773 on Pope Clement XIV to have the Jesuit Order suppressed. With the abandoning of the missions, the prosperous trade surrounding these Reductions vanished. Colonists imposed a brutal plantation economy in the region, forcing the Guarani to act as slave labor. In 1814, Gervasio Posadas, the Director of the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata, declared Misiones annexed to Argentina's Corrientes. Argentina did not exert de facto control over Misiones, claimed by several countries and governed itself. In 1830 Argentine military forces from Corrientes Province took control of Misiones.
In 1838 Paraguay occupied Misiones, claiming the area on the basis that the Misiones population consisted of indigenous Guarani, the major ethnic group of Paraguay. In 1865 Paraguayan forces invaded Misiones again in. Following the defeat of Paraguay and its peace agreement with Argentina, Paraguay gave up its claim to the Misiones territory. Although Argentina had claimed Misiones since 1814, academics tend to interpret Argentine possession of Misiones as beginning with the defeat of Paraguay in the War of the Triple Alliance. Bethell writes that "the treaty of alliance contained secret clauses providing for the annexation of disputed territory in northern Paraguay by Brazil and regions in the east and west of Paraguay by Argentina... After a long and harrowing war, Argentina got it from a prostrate Paraguay territory in Misiones." Scobie states that "the political status of Misiones remained vague" and that Argentina gained the region "as a by-product of the Paraguayan war in the 1860s". The War of the Triple Alliance left Paraguay much impoverished, Misiones benefited economically from belonging to Argentina.
In 1876 the Argentine President Nicolás Avellaneda, assisted by his close friend, General Pietro Canestro, proclaimed the Immigration and Colonization Law. This law fostered the immigration of European colonists in order to populate the vast unspoiled Argentinian territories. Several colonizing companies formed under this law. One of them, Adolf Schwelm's Eldorado Colonización y Explotación de Bosques Ltda. S. A. founded the city of Eldorado in 1919 with a port on the Upper Paraná. Its agricultural colonies and experimental farms, the orange- and grapefruit-tree plantations, the cultivation of yerba mate, the mills and the dryers for such product are characteristic of this area. Swedish-Argentines became well known for growing yerba mate. Misiones received many immigrants from Europe, coming via Southern Brazil; some came from Buenos Aires, from Eastern Europe, in particular large numbers of Poles and Ukrainians. Since Misiones has continued to benefit economically and has developed politically within Argentina.
It has been integrated into the Argentine state. As of 2016 control of the province is not contested. On December 10, 1953 the "National Territory of Misiones" gained provincial status in accordance with Law 14.294, its constitution was approved on April 21, 1958. Misiones received more attention from national policy-makers following an international agreement to construct the Yacyretá hydroelectric dam on a point in the Paraná River shared by Paraguay and Corrientes Province; when the dam became operative in the 1990s, the Paraná's waters all along the Misiones shores rose. They flooded lands that the dam's authorities had failed to clear and condition adequately, resulting in the onset of mosquito-transmitted illnesses, such as leishmaniasis, yellow fever and malaria; the entire Misiones shores along the Paraná River is now confined by two dams, one of them Yaciretá, downstream of the river, the other Itaipú, located in Brazil and Paraguay, upstream of the river and north of Puerto Iguazú.
As of 2016 Argentina is pursuing an agreement with Paraguay to
Río Negro Province
Río Negro is a province of Argentina, located at the northern edge of Patagonia. Neighboring provinces are from the south clockwise Chubut, Neuquén, Mendoza, La Pampa and Buenos Aires. To the east lies the Atlantic Ocean, its capital is Viedma. Other important cities include the ski resort town of General Roca and Cipolletti. Ferdinand Magellan was the first European explorer to visit the coasts of the provinces in 1520. Italian priest Nicolás Mascardi founded the Jesuit mission Nuestra Senora de Nahuel Huapi in 1670 at the shore of the Nahuel Huapi Lake, at the feet of the Andes range. Part of the Argentine territory called Patagonia, in 1884 it was organised into the Territorio Nacional del Río Negro and General Lorenzo Vintter was appointed as the territory's first governor, it was only in 1957. Río Negro is one of the six provinces, it is bounded to the north by the Colorado River which separates it from La Pampa Province, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean and to the west by the Andes and the Limay River.
The 42nd parallel south marks the southern limit of the province. With an area of 203,013 square kilometres, it is the 4th largest province by area; the climate of the province is temperate at low elevations, cold in the higher Andean peaks. The mean annual temperatures in the province are cold for its latitude owing to the marine currents to the east and higher altitude to the west. Mean annual temperatures in the province can vary, depending on distance from the sea; the northern parts of the province are the warmest, with a mean annual temperature of more than 15 °C while the coldest areas are found in the Cordillera where the mean annual temperatures are less than 10 °C. At the highest peaks, the mean annual temperature is less than freezing. Summer temperatures can exceed 40 °C although the mean January temperatures range from 20 to 24 °C. In contrast, the Andean region has milder summers with mean January temperatures of 15 °C or less, depending on the altitude. In July, mean temperatures range from 7 to 8 °C on the coast in the north to around 2 to 3 °C in the central plateau.
Relative humidity is lower in the central plateau where they average 50%. Along the coastal regions, humidity is higher with a mean annual humidity of 60% while the Andean region has the highest humidity with an average annual humidity exceeding 65% due to the lower temperatures there. In all locations, humidity is lower in the summer and higher in the winter owing to the higher temperatures in the summer; the Andes block most of the moisture from the Pacific Ocean from coming in, causing it to release most of the precipitation on its western slopes and as such, most of the province is dry, with a mean annual precipitation around 200 millimetres. Coastal areas and northern parts of the province receive a higher precipitation, where it can average above 300 millimetres a year; the Andean region receives the most precipitation with areas receiving a mean annual precipitation of 200 to 1,000 millimetres in which the precipitation gradient is strong and increases westwards. In some places, precipitation can exceed 3,000 millimetres a year.
Most of the Andean region has a rainfall pattern, Mediterranean like, similar to Central Chile in which most of the precipitation falls during the winter months and summers are dry. One dominant characteristic of the climate is the strong winds that are observed throughout the province. Summers tend to be windier than winters. Winds coming from the west and northwest are common, occurring 50% of the time. There is some tendency for the winds to come from the east on the coastal regions when sea breezes from the east can occur when westerly winds are weak, which can be felt up to 10 kilometres from the coast; the mean wind speed throughout the province varies with the northern parts having the lowest wind speeds while the highest altitude areas being the windiest. Except for the northern parts of the province, mean annual wind speeds exceed 4 metres per second. Cloud cover varies throughout the province, ranging from more than 60% in the Andean region to about 40% in the coastal areas; the central plateaus have intermediate amounts of cloud cover between these 2 regions.
As such, the Andean region is cloudier than the rest of the province. Sunshine ranges from 10–11 hours of sunshine/day in January to about 5 hours of sunshine/day to less than 3 hours of sunshine/day in July. According to the results from the 2010 census, the province has a population of 638,645 with 316,774 males and 321,871 females, it constitutes 1.6% of the total population in Argentina. This represented a 15.5% increase in the population compared to 2001 census which had 552,822 inhabitants. Amongst of all the provinces in Patagonia, it is the most populous, containing 30.4% of the total population in Patagonia. The province is home to four indigenous groups: The Tehuelches, the Puelches, the Pehuenches, the Mapuches. All of the indigenous population in the province are the Mapuches with the rest being small in number where their few descendants live in the neighbouring provinces; the Mapuches along with some of the Pehuenches lived in the western parts of the province although today, they live in the southern
Buenos Aires Province
City of Buenos Aires
Jujuy
San Juan
Mendoza
